Married to another

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.  – Romans 7.1-4

Marriage in an integral part of the New Testament. The church is called the bride of Christ. Marriage is called a picture of salvation. Here marriage is used to illustrate man, the Law, and our relationship to God.

Paul writes of marriage. A woman is bound no her husband as long as he is alive. That reminds us of just how serious marriage is. If a woman marries another while her husband is still alive she is an adulteress. (By the way, that same terminology is used elsewhere for an unfaithful husband). I know it a little old fashioned now, and that many would disagree with me, but I think that teaches that marriage is well and truly forever.

But that's not really the point here so I'll leave it for now.

The point is that God uses yet another illustration to show the break with the past when we get saved. Not only do we have a new boss, we have a new marriage partner. We could not just simple divorce the marriage to the Law. Marriage is ‘till death do us part’ so death had to take place to break that bond.

But now, through the body of Christ we died to the Law. It is a new us who is married to Christ. We, as the church of the redeemed, are the Bride of Christ.

I once heard an illustration I think fits here. Pardon the fact that it is ‘old fashioned’ and based on an ‘old fashioned’ view of the home. There was a woman who fell in love with a man. He seemed the perfect husband. At first everything was great. But within a few weeks her husband gave her a list of things he expected out of her. It was an impossible list. Every day she worked as hard as she could, but the work was never done before her husband got home. She was in a constant state of despair and frustration because she couldn’t measure up to his expectations.

Eventually her husband died. Time went and she met another man and married him. Life was a dream, not list of rules or requirements. When she asked him about it he said ‘I am happy enough that you just love me.’

A few weeks later she was tidying up and came across a piece of paper in a drawer. When she unfolded it she saw that it was the list that her first husband had given here. When she was done reading it she laughed as she realised that she was doing everything on the list and more!

Why? Because now she was working out of love, not because she had a list she had to keep. Love motivated her to serve.

And so it goes with the Law and Christ. One binds us to a list of rules, the other frees us to serve in love.

Praise God for being ‘married to another!’